Preening
by NightmareWalker
Summary: Maleficent spends some time with Aurora after getting in a small fight with some mercenaries. Aurora spends some time cleaning her wings, and they grow closer. Just some Malora fluff, could be familial or romantic.


Look, a rogue Maleficent fic appears! Catch it!

So, yeah, I'm posting this along with the Rizzoli and Isles fic because Andromeda is coming out tomorrow night and I'm going to disappear for a week or so to play the shit out of it. Here ya go!

* * *

Maleficent dove at the squad of mercenaries brandishing their iron weapons at her and grinned as they scrambled out of her way. She chuckled condescendingly at the men while they struggled to gather themselves in the wake of her attack.

"Get the witch!" One threw his javelin at her and she laughed outright when it fell far short of its mark. She watched his face turn an ugly puce color and he yanked a crossbow from the arms of his fellow, cranking the shaft back and aiming up at her.

She smirked as she heard the metallic whir when the bolt was released and lazily pumped her wings, throwing the projectile off mark. "Go back to your city of stone and iron, humans."

"Shoot her down!"

More bolts came her way and again she flapped her wings. As the soldiers reloaded their crossbows, she let herself fall out of the sky and blew through their ranks again; the reinforced joints of her wings struck down the men that didn't duck in time. She felt a heavy weight suddenly attach itself to her ankle and looked down to see one man stubbornly hanging on to her. She hissed as his iron gauntlet burnt her skin and landed heavily, rolling awkwardly to avoid injuring her wings before she folded them against her spine. The mercenary, having tumbled in a metallic heap when he landed face first in the dirt, spit out a mouthful of earth and lumbered to his feet. Maleficent watched him fumble for his sword and eyed the approaching group over his shoulder.

"Get on your knees, witch, you're outnumbered."

"Oh? Whatever is a poor winged creature such as myself to do in a situation like this?" She fluttered her eyes innocently, then smirked widely as her green-gold eyes glowed with magic, swirling around her fingertips excitedly. She lifted her palm up in an elaborate gesture and the earth beneath the mercenaries feet began trembling, heaving itself so they stumbled and fell over themselves.

Maleficent lifted a couple feet off the ground and twisted her fingers, bidding the tree branches in the small clearing to shake their leaves and wrap around arms, legs, torsos until the men were yelling in fright and squirming futilely. She tapped her chin in thought as they cursed her and flailed wildly, then smiled. "Since you all are feeling rather…energetic, apparently, I suppose I will simply have to leave you here to cool off for a while. Ta."

She winged off into the forest, laughing quietly as their loud oaths were left behind in the rush of wind past her pointed ears and elegantly curling horns, blowing through loose bundles of hanging vines and the slowly waving willow trees. She laughed exuberantly as the mid-summer sunlight washed across the expanse of her wings, warming the feathers and skin beneath. As she broke free of the treeline, the cliff overlooking her part of the forest and the Rowan tree perched near the ledge came into view. Maleficent's lips lifted happily as she spied a blonde head of hair leaning against the sturdy trunk and she pumped her wings powerfully to fly toward the clifftop.

Landing silently on the ledge, she tucked her wings behind her back just in time to be tackled in a powerful hug. "Hello, Beastie. I thought you were spending the day with the wallerbogs?"

"They wanted to go to the marsh on the northern edge of the forest and I didn't feel like following them," Aurora explained. Maleficent hummed, wrapping her arms around the slight girl and tucking her chin on top of her head. She idly scratched Aurora's back as she inhaled the young woman's scent, a pleasant mixture of wildflowers and honey that saturated every inch of her. "Besides, I wanted to see you and…hopefully spend the night?"

"Are you sure? You don't have to go back the humans' castle tonight?"

"I told them I was going to stay here for a fortnight, for 'diplomatic reasons,'" Aurora giggled. "My council seems to be under the impression that I am coming to speak with you about mining the gemstone pools. So, can I?"

"I don't know, can you?" Maleficent teased, laughing melodiously when Aurora stuck her tongue out. "Better watch that I don't grab it, Beastie."

"I'm too fast for you, Mal."

"You think so?" Maleficent abruptly released Aurora and watched with amusement as blonde eyebrows furrowed over a dainty nose and blue eyes suddenly widened in realization.

"Maleficent, _don't yo-_ "

"Run, Beastie, lest I catch you and gobble you up for my dinner." Aurora squealed and took off toward the forest behind the Rowan as Maleficent watched her with a smile on her lips. She slowly lifted into the air as she began to shadow the fleeing young woman and dove through the trees with an excited gleam in her eyes.

"Oh, wicked Beastie, wherever could you be hiding? Come out, come out, I only wish to speak with you," she crooned sweetly. She heard suppressed giggling nearby and landed silently on the forest floor, folding her wings against her spine neatly as she began to stalk toward the quiet sounds. "I will find you, Beastie…" She ducked around a massive tree and caught a glimpse of blonde tresses disappearing into a hollow nearby.

Smiling to herself, she stalked Aurora further into the forest, following her faint trail and the occasional giggles that reached her sensitive ears. She paused at the foot of a tree and peered up into its boughs, smiling toothily up at the wide blue eyes that watched her. "It appears that I've treed a young human. Why do you trespass in my woods, girl?"

Eyes sharp and smile predatory, Maleficent began slowly picking her way through the branches of the massive tree. Her wings rustled as she climbed higher, trailing behind Aurora who was leaping precariously to the higher boughs and glancing down at her with a wide grin on her lips. "You're only making this worse for yourself, human. Come down before I get you."

"Come and get me!" Aurora giggled and Maleficent let her ascend several more yards before leaping off her perch and reaching for a branch overhead. She began climbing swiftly up the trunk of the tree and, the next time Aurora looked down, she grasped her ankle and tugged it playfully. The young woman squealed and jerked her foot away but had nowhere to go to and so she clung to her branch and giggled when Maleficent continued to lazily bat at her legs, occasionally snagging her bare foot and dragging blunt nails across the pad.

Finally, Aurora conceded with bright laughter and they slowly descended the tree. Aurora ungracefully tumbled the last several feet and landed on her backside as twigs and other detritus rained down on her from her impromptu fall. Maleficent crouched beside her with her eyebrow arched and tugged a leaf out of Aurora's hair. "Shall we go home so I can clean you up, Beastie?"

"Yes, please." Aurora wrapped her arms around Maleficent's shoulders and buried her face in her neck when they lifted into the air. She giggled as they flew toward the Rowan and dropped down when the fae landed, reclining in the nest of soft fabrics and pillows as Maleficent shrugged off her outer robes and tended to the plentiful flowers that were blooming in the boughs of her home. "Mal, come here; I can feel something digging into my scalp and I don't appreciate it."

Maleficent laughed throatily as she sat behind Aurora, drawing the young woman against her chest as she began picking through her hair. "If you would stop falling out of trees, this wouldn't happen. You know, I thought you outgrew this phase once you became Queen; aren't they supposed to be graceful and collected?" She playfully pulled on a strand of hair and Aurora nestled further back against her.

"I wouldn't know, I don't exactly have other Queens to compare myself to, do I?" She ran her hand over the edge of one of Maleficent's wings and tugged gently on the large feathers to coax the fae to curl her wing around them.

As Maleficent picked leaves and moss out of her hair, Aurora plucked twigs from between her feathers, smoothing them back over as she went and scratching at the joint.

"Mal, what is this?"

Green-gold eyes widened when Aurora lifted some fletching from an arrow between her fingers. "It…it is…"

The look Aurora gave her, chastising and affectionate at once, made Maleficent flush and she looked away. "You got in a fight today."

"Aye."

"With whom?"

"Some mercenaries near the western edge of the Moors. No one you need concern yourself with."

Aurora turned in Maleficent's arms, a frown playing on her lips, and displayed the fletching again. "They fired on you!"

"As countless others have done before, and doubtless more will do in the future. I am fine, Beastie, see?"

Maleficent spread her arms and wings wide, coaxing Aurora to check her skin for wounds. Once she was satisfied, she turned back around and leaned into the fae, tipping her head back so she could look up at her as she played with her fingers. "I worry."

"I know."

"I don't like it when you're in danger."

Maleficent bared her sharp eyeteeth in a predatory grin and lifted her wings in a vaguely threatening manner. "I think you'll find they were in more danger than I."

"Regardless," Aurora said, tightening her hold on Maleficent's hand, "I wish you wouldn't do such things so often."

Maleficent turned her head down to buss a kiss across Aurora's temple. She tangled their fingers together and reclined back into the nest, bringing Aurora with her. The young woman automatically nestled against Maleficent's side, molding into her curves and nuzzling beneath her chin with a content sigh. The fae brushed her fingers through silky blonde hair, once again free of twigs and other forest remains, and brought a wing over them, blocking out the afternoon sunlight and enveloping them in a cocoon of warm intimacy.

"They were truly no problem, Aurora," she said quietly. "You know I am not needlessly reckless; they were but a dozen, and not nearly as well armed as they thought themselves. 'Twas little problem to disarm them and send them fleeing from the Moors."

Blue eyes met and searched green-gold for a long moment, then closed as Aurora nodded and nuzzled in. Her hand splayed across Maleficent's stomach, fingers tapping out a tuneless rhythm as they settled into each other and adjusted until they were a mass of limbs and blonde-brunette hair nestled within the nest. Their heads bent toward each other as Aurora idly stroked the wing covering them and Maleficent continued to card her fingers through her hair, soothing themselves until they fell into easy slumber.


End file.
